Washed Clean in the Dirt

I grew up with limited exposure to dirt. Getting dirty, messy, making a mess, these were the things that could get a child in my house into trouble. Clean is a statement about pride in self and environment, or at least, that is the message I learned~the translation for me is messy outside, messy inside. Nature was a far removed something I had no clue about, except of course when I heard the refrain "go outside and play". I didn't really know what that meant because I got the "don't get dirty or hurt" message so many times that I see myself in my minds eye as a stick child, one with limited movement and absolutely no connection to environment or people. Moving objects had no rhyme or reason, and were inexplicable to me. Learning that all things have energy, vibrate, move and are connected has been astounding, magical and wondrous.  Dirt is alive and has history stored in it, little stories of now and what was, it testifies to the grandness of life and it is from the dirt that you and I, according to the Bible, were formed. I have been getting dirty lately, sitting on the floor of horse stalls, touching and petting dirt encrusted dogs, cats, horses, picking apart crumbly clumps of dirt and seeing what hidden treasures wait to be discovered there...in the touching, I feel, in the dirt, I am washed clean.